Author Archives: Rusty Rueff

About Rusty Rueff

Rusty Rueff, author of purposed worKING. Rusty Rueff is the former Chairman Emeritus of The GRAMMY Foundation in Los Angeles. He most recently completed the successful 16 month leadership role as Coordinating National Co-Chair for Technology for Obama (T4O) for the reelection of President Obama and ten-years of Board service and President of the Board of Trustees of the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. Corporately, most recently Rueff was the Chief Executive Officer at SNOCAP, Inc. until the acquisition of the company by imeem, Inc. in April 2008. Before joining SNOCAP in 2005, he was Executive Vice President of Human Resources at Electronic Arts (EA) from 1998 until 2005. He was also with the PepsiCo companies for more than ten years, with the Pratt & Whitney division of United Technologies for two years, and in commercial radio as an on-air personality for six years. Rusty holds an M.S. in counseling and a B.A. in radio and television from Purdue University. In 2003 he was named a distinguished Purdue alumnus, and he and his wife, Patti, are the named benefactors of Purdue’s Patti and Rusty Rueff School of Visual and Performing Arts. He is a corporate director of Glassdoor.com and runcoach. He is the co-founder and Executive Committee Member of T4A.org, serves on the Founding Circle of The Centrist Project and a founding Board Member of The GRAMMY Music Education Coalition. He is also the co-author of the book Talent Force: A New Manifesto for the Human Side of Business. Rusty and his wife, Patti, reside in Hillsborough, CA and Charlestown, R.I.

day 361: Persuasive Words

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We all know persuasive people. These are the people that when they speak others listen. They seem to always have the right words to get others excited, engaged and motivated. We tend to many times look at great sports coaches, politicians, celebrities, religious leaders, CEOs and teachers as those who are most persuasive in our culture. These are people who use their brain and their words to get their work done. They find a way to stir up emotions in others and end up having an influence on them. In the work world I find that the most persuasive people are the ones who are consistent in their actions and words so that when it comes time to influence and get others to follow, people want to do so because most of all, they trust them. Trust comes from respect and the belief that another will be there for you if needed. Trust is built through caring about the needs of others. Trust comes from using the words that have others knowing that you understand them and care for and about them. We get all riled up thinking that to be persuasive we have to spout off being the smartest and sometimes the loudest person in the room. Many times it is those who say the least, that when they speak everyone listens. The Bible says the same in Proverbs 16:21; “The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant words are persuasive.” Today you may need to be the one who can be persuasive. It might be the big presentation or the customer call or the simple act of getting a co-worker to play along. Whatever the situation, try today to use your understanding of others and some pleasant words to be persuasive. Those pleasant and caring words could be the most persuasive of words you could ever find to use.

Reference: Proverbs 16:21 (New Living Testament)